CSDE & Defined Community of Practice
Are you interested in taking your instructional practice and implementation to the next level? The CSDE, in partnership with Defined, will offer a community of practice for educators who have been utilizing the Defined resources with students, or have been through introductory training (in-person or virtual) and would like to learn more. Our day of community will encourage educators to share their activities, experiences, and/or samples of student products with their colleagues through informal sharing. This professional learning experience is designed to support Connecticut educators in leveraging Defined to shift culture, strengthen teaching practices, and bring deeper teaching and learning experiences to classrooms with considerations to career connections. We encourage you to invite your instructional leader to join you, and to bring any curricular materials to help in the planning and preparation of Defined performance tasks for use in your classroom.
Date & Time: December 11th, 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM EST; Please plan to arrive 30 minutes early to ensure that everyone will get through security so we can start promptly at 9:00 AM.
Location: State Office Building, 165 Capital Avenue, Hartford, CT 06106; Ground floor rooms D & E
Parking: 315 Buckingham Street Garage (across the street from the building)
Agenda:
1. Introductions
2. Reflections on Implementation and Practices using Defined
- This is designed to provide further success utilizing Defined. This will include engaging in conversations, reflections, and collaborating with other Connecticut teachers.
- Reflect and share the performance tasks used with teachers and/or students in your setting
- Share anonymous student products and discuss how the process and creation of these products contributed to student engagement and learning
- Brainstorm and discuss additional supports that are needed for continued growth
- Review Defined tasks and resources and take a deeper dive into implementation strategies while developing and using Defined in your classroom
3. Personalized Learning
- We will provide time for large and small group conversations and community building with educators based on similar interests. These conversations will relate to content, instruction, assessment, and reflection, as well as teaching and learning strategies. Participants can stay with the same team or rotate and work individually, in school/district teams, or with others as desired.
- For those interested, Defined facilitators will share:
- Developing the Defined Learning task planning template (Teacher and/or Student) for a specific performance task
- Further investigation of the Defined Learning platform, features, and mechanics
- Further investigation of the Defined Careers platform, features, and mechanics
- Customize and make edits to selected performance tasks
- For those school leaders interested, a Defined facilitator will lead a conversation discussing ways to lay a strong foundation for PBL/STEM systematically thinking about:
- Climate, culture, standards, and practices
- Connections with teacher observation and support
- Connecting to a Portrait of a Graduate
4. Wrap-Up
- Review and reflect upon the learning activities and experiences for the day